To eliminate insurance risk, Naples reappraised 40 city sites at $195.4 million and increased coverage to fully pay the cost of replacement and rebuilding after a hurricane or other disaster.
City Council voted March 19 to increase the sites’ insurable value from $167,711,263 to $195,413,719. The vote allows payment to Brown & Brown Inc. for a prorated additional insurance premium of $105,000 from March 19 through Sept. 30. Before the appraisal last year, Council approved renewing insurance from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 through Lake Mary-based Preferred Government Insurance Trust, with a $1.495 million annual premium.
“The last comprehensive property appraisal of all city structures was completed in 2019 and Preferred required a comprehensive on-site property appraisal,” Deputy Human Resources Director Lori McCullers wrote in a memo to Council. “Every three to seven years, Preferred requires updated values.”
Preferred contracted with Pittsburgh-based Centurisk to conduct an on-site appraisal of structures valued $250,000 or more and completed it in September 2024. The company has maintained Naples’ historical values since 2009.
“The on-site inspector determined that at some of the utility related structures, the contents were actually viewed as permanently installed equipment,” McCullers said of blanket coverage, which includes buildings and contents.
The city had the option of maintaining current insurable values, but that would reduce coverage to stated-value coverage, with an 80% coinsurance clause, meaning properties must be insured for at least 80% of replacement costs to receive full coverage for a loss, or pay a penalty. Blanket coverage provides up to the sum of all assets for the insured replacement cost of any individual unit or item and pays the actual cost to rebuild — even if it’s over the amount listed on the city’s schedule of insured property.
“This has become very important in Florida when factoring in demand and high inflation costs in the aftermath of catastrophic events,” McCullers said, noting Brown & Brown recommended increasing insurable values to 17%. “Blanket coverage offers the broadest coverage and eliminates the risk of additional financial loss to the city in the event of a property loss.”
Among the 40 sites covered are City Hall, a 25,600-square-foot building at 735 Eighth St. S., with a $5.23 million replacement cost and $5.9 million insurable value. The adjacent 2,813-square-foot Council Chambers has a replacement cost of $595,500, with a $661,000 insurable value. Both were built in 1979.
Next door, Fire Station No. 1, built in 2019, has a $7.73 million replacement cost and a $7.84 million insurable value, while Naples Police Department, 355 Riverside Circle, and the adjacent public safety building total 30,858 square feet, have a $6.76 million replacement cost and a $7.94 million insurable value. They were built in 1974.
